After two fun weeks of lecturing on the road, I was finally able to return to the North Shore. But first, one last 'gig' before settling back into Grand Marais life.

I met up with Lonnie for a special event at Wolf Ridge Enivormental Learning Center. I arrived a few hours earlier as I had spent a year as an intern here and wanted to walk the trails and remember the old times. Of course, all that driving left me a little antsy so I put on my running shoes and took off.

It was a beautiful fall day with the colors a little past peak, but I still managed to soak in the few remaining rays of warmth. I startled a beaver near Sawmill Creek and a Pileated woodpecker near the forest ecology building. Running back to my car, I pushed extra hard up a huge stair case, called affectionately by visiting groups as, the stairs of death.